Saturday 15th. December, fABBAulous Christmas Dinner.Click image to enlarge.Paddlers for Life enjoyed a fabulous Christmas Meal at Low Wood Hotel in their end of season bash!

Friday 7th. December,
2012. The Red Dragon Steps
out in Staveley for the Winter Festival

Decked out in lights and with flames in her
mouth, our red dragon led the procession in the Staveley Winter Festival, with
Helen Shacklady bravely carrying the head and Lynn, Barbara and Steph moving the body. Outside the dragon,
Sandra guided us from the Eagle and Child to the Village Hall.
Shelley's band
surrounded us with the perfect music for dragon dancing. Being inside the
dragon, we had not a clue about how we looked, but everyone said we were
brilliant AND we won the prize for Best Dressed Entry!
Another exciting moment
in 2012, in the Chinese Year of the Dragon. What a lovely evening with the
whole village buzzing with festive spirit!

Thanks to Shelley and Sandra for
inviting us.

A Tribute to Sue and Ann, Paddlers for
Life AGM, November, 2012

Strength, Courage, Hope, Love.

At the AGM we extended a huge thanks to Sue
and Ann for all their inspirational work for Paddlers for Life. Judy organised
gorgeous baskets of flowers representing the colours of our paddle logo,
including, as a keepsake, a Christmas star.
They were also presented with cards
beautifully designed by Nick which were full of wonderful messages from team
members.

We wish them both good luck, Ann with the
Paddlers for Life Manchester team and Sue, alongside Louisa, with Paddlers for
Life UK and the IBCPC.

We're delighted that Sue has agreed to take
on the role of Patron and that they will both continue to paddle with us at
Windermere.

Wear It Pink Day 2012, 26th. October

Eighteen paddlers and a helm from Paddlers for Life, Windermere celebrated and publicised
Wear It Pink day.
The event raises funds for the charity Breast Cancer Campaign who identify and fund breast cancer research projects with the greatest potential to save and improve lives and, ultimately, to find a cure for breast cancer.
As you can see, after a warm up, the paddlers really entered into the spirit of the Pink Theme
paddling the beautifully decorated Dragon Boat along the northern shores of Windermere on a wonderful, clear but cold sunny day. We took a reflective moment for a 'Flowers on the Water' ceremony.

Afterwards paddlers celebrated Louisa's birthday and put the dragons, Artemis Phyllis and Lucy to sleep for the winter as our 2012 paddling season came to an end. What a season it has been as it included the Olympic Torch relay and the Queen's Jubilee Flotilla. The crew then gratefully enjoyed warm hospitality and Pink Afternoon Tea courtesy of English Lakes Hotels, Low Wood Hotel.More pictures here or visit the gallery.

Thanks to June and Barbara for the photos.

Another wonderful paddling session on Windermere. 21st October, 2012

As some members attended a networking conference at Breast Cancer Care headquarters in London other members assembled for a paddling session as the season comes to an end.

What an amazing site greeted paddlers as they approached Windermere. A large part of Windermere was buried in mist while blue skies and bright sunshine shone over it. The sun soon cleared the mist to reveal a mirror calm lake.

The boat was quickly on the water and Roz helmed Artemis Phyllis across Windermere with a couple of novice paddlers on board. With some sustained paddling we traced the northern perimeter of Windermere.

Roz recalled many of the paddling tips from Keni's coaching session last week and took the crew through some rigorous coaching exercises including race starts. Then we had a steady paddle back to Low Wood enjoying the splendid views and Autumn colours.

Here are some photos of this gorgeous day on Windermere courtesy of Claire.

Click an image to see it full size.

A challenging coaching session with Keni and a special birthday! October 14th.

Keni practiced some of her newly acquired coaching techniques on paddlers at Windermere. They had to work hard but were rewarded by improved technique and power.They certainly earned their chocolate treat as Jane celebrated a special birthday.

October 7th. 2012A gorgeous sunny calm day on Windermere at last.

Windermere was as gorgeous as it ever is today with dead calm water and beautiful sunshine.
We had two visitors new to paddling.
One came to visit from London having seen Paddlers for Life in the Queen's Jubilee Flotilla.
Our other visitor is interested in trying her hand at helming.
Two wonderful paddling sessions with Jane and Peter helming.
It was fun to have a race again after a little coaching and an interesting variation on 'Tug o' War!

One of the Dragon puppets is now complete with a sinuous body ready to help publicise Paddlers for Life.

Would you believe Windermere looked like this one week apart in October? Click image to enlarge.